Home / COVID-19: Resources and FAQs

Effective Friday April 1, 2022, Bluefield State will suspend all COVID-19 check-In
procedures and
return to normal operating conditions. Over the last two years, our College has successfully
developed and implemented procedures to address college operations during the COVID-19 pandemic,
led by B-State’s Back, a college-wide team deeply committed to ensuring everyone’s safety during
this unprecedented time. Through the efforts of this team, our students, employees, and
community, the percent of positive cases at Bluefield State never exceeded three percent, and
has consistently been five to ten percent below our county’s percent of reported cases.

COVID-19 FAQs

May 12, 2021

A: If you will not be on campus at all, you will not be required
to be tested.
However, if you need to come to campus for any reason (testing, bookstore,
student services, etc.),
you will need to have the results of a negative test on file. Please send a copy
of your results to
bschealthcenter@bluefieldstate.edu.

A: You do not need to come to the Bluefield campus for testing.
You
can test through your local physician, health care provider, or medical lab. We
will have
information about how you can test in the Beckley area. We will need to results
of a negative test
to include you in our database to be on campus. You can email your results to bschealthcenter@bluefieldstate.edu.

A: No.

A: The BSC Health Center
will contact the appropriate county health department, which will contact the
individual who has
tested positive and obtain from them a list of individuals with whom they’ve
been in contact. The
health department will then notify those individuals.

A: The student will obtain documentation from the BSC Health
Center
or the student’s
physician, confirming the student has been cleared from quarantine to return to
campus.

A: The faculty member/employee is to report this information to
the BSC Health
Center
and tell the student to
contact the BSC Health Center.

A: CDC’s guidance COVID-19, also
known as Coronavirus, is
a new respiratory virus first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, which
has spread globally,
including regions in the U.S. Learn about COVID-19 at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
(CDC) website.

A: CDC’s guidance Current
symptoms reported for
patients with COVID-19 have included mild to severe respiratory illness with
fever, cough and
difficulty breathing. Read about COVID-19 symptoms. Coronavirus is thought to
spread mainly from
person to person between people who are in close contact (within about 6 feet).
The virus spreads
via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes and
their droplets
either land in the mouths or noses of nearby people or are inhaled into their
lungs. It may be
possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface that has the virus
on it and touching
their mouth or eyes before washing their hands, but this is not thought to be
the main way the virus
spreads. For more information, see the CDC page, How it Spreads.

A: BSC urges faculty, staff, and students who have personal or
professional plans
to travel either internationally or to affected areas in the U.S. to reconsider
their travel and to
consider the possibility of travel delays, future quarantines, or prolonged
self-isolation when
returning from travel to the BSC and Mercer County communities. BSC encourage
faculty and staff to
share any travel plans with their department chair, dean, or manager to
facilitate College
assistance if the need arises. However, given concerns surrounding the spread of
COVID-19, we urge
student and college groups to self-report any travel plans with the Office of
the Dean of Students
Cravor Jones(phone number:(304) 327-4016)(Email: cjones@bluefieldstate.edu)
BSC encourages student
groups to reconsider travel to any international or domestic location affected
by COVID-19.
For more information, see
the CDC travel information website.

A: Students returning to BSC expected to follow the guidelines of
the West
Virginia Department of Health and CDC regarding any mandatory quarantine or
isolation procedures.
Students, faculty, and staff are instructed to follow the CDC’s guidance for
self-isolation if traveling from
countries with widespread sustained transmission of COVID-19. Students should
contact their faculty
via email to make arrangements for missing class (see related FAQ below).
Employees should contact
their Director for any questions about leave. Students returning from affected
areas to other states
should follow guidelines from their state’s public health department.

A: Should a case be positively identified, appropriate
communications as
guided by the West Virginia Department of Health will occur. For additional
information regarding
locations impacted by COVID-19 visit the CDC’s global map and the West Virginia
Department of Health’s
surveillance data.

A: The best preventative steps for any communicable disease
include simple but
important measures to practice as part of your daily routine, but especially
during flu season: Wash
your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an
alcohol-based hand sanitizer
that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available. Avoid
close contact with
people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed
hands. Avoid sharing
anything that has come in contact with saliva, whether in your living or social
environments. Get
adequate sleep and eat well-balanced meals to ensure a healthy immune system.
Additional information
is available from the CDC.How to wear a face
mask

dos and dontshow to wear mask

A: Should a case be positively identified, appropriate
communications as guided
by the West Virginia Department of Health will occur. Protocols are in place for
cleaning on-Grounds
residences of affected students and work spaces of affected faculty and staff.
Administrators will
work with faculty to make accommodations for extended student absences.

A: BSC has encouraged community members to become familiar with
the facts about
COVID-19 and support one another with compassion. If you have questions please
contact, BSC’s
Interim Dean
of Students Office Cravor Jones, by calling 304-327-4016 who has resources to
help address any
concerns
both informally (through coaching and training), and formally, if the situation
should arise.

A:

A: BSC is communicating regularly with Mercer County Health
Department, Raleigh
County Health Department, and local hospitals. News and Alert messages are sent
to our listserv as
information becomes available. The web site is reviewed and updated as needed to
keep the BSC campus
informed.

Fall Semester Classes and Academics – For Students

A: Courses will be delivered in face-to-face, online, and
hybrid/blended formats.
Students should check their BSC e-mails and Moodle messages daily and contact
their instructors to
clarify the delivery format.

A: Students considering dropping a course or withdrawing from the
College are
encouraged to discuss their situation with their academic advisor and their
instructors, the
Counseling Center, or another representative of the College before making the
decision. Each student
considering withdrawal from the College will be given the opportunity to speak
with a responsive,
caring representative of the College. The Counseling Center staff, Dr. Cravor
Jones at
cjones@bluefieldstate.edu (304-327-4016) or Dr. Tamara Ferguson at
tferguson@bluefieldstate.edu
(304-327-4155), will conduct a brief exit interview with the student to
facilitate positive action,
whether that means withdrawing, remaining, or planning to return to school at a
later date. A
student who decides to withdraw must obtain a Permit to Withdraw
Form
which must be submitted to the
Registrar’s Office: registrar@bluefieldstate.edu.

A: Students who have any questions or concerns my contact the
Student Affairs
Advocate, Dr. Ted Lewis, Provost at tlewis@bluefieldstate.edu or
304-327-4161.

Classes and Academics – For Faculty

A: Please click the image below for more information.

Visitors to the College

A: Bluefield State College campus buildings are open
to faculty, staff, administrators, students, and the general public. All
visitors are required
to stop at the point of contact at each entrance to each building for a
temperature check and to
receive a mask, which must be worn at all times while on campus.
Additionally, a Coronavirus Exposure Form must be
completed by anyone who enters a
campus building. Following the screening process, the visitor will
receive a color-coded
wristband for entry into other campus buildings. A visitor who fails the
screening process will
be asked to leave the campus immediately.

A: All conferences, seminars, and other events on each
campus of Bluefield
State College are approved on a case-by-case basis. Everyone
participating in an on-campus event
is required to stop at the point of contact at each entrance to each
building for a temperature
check and receive a mask which must be worn at all times while on
campus. Additionally, a
Coronavirus Exposure Form must be
completed by anyone entering a
campus building. Once approved,
the individual will receive a color-coded wristband or stamp for entry
into any campus building
on that day. Everyone must sign in at the point of contact desk at each
building to indicate
they have been screened and are considered low risk for having the
Coronavirus. Anyone who fails
a screening must leave the campus immediately. All athletic events and
competitions will
strictly follow NCAA requirements.
Anyone wanting to schedule an event on campus must contact the Dean of
Students, Cravor Jones at
cjones@bluefieldstate.edu or 304-327-4016.

Events and Meetings

A: Meetings are recommended via phone, Google Meet, etc.
Each room on campus
has been measured for social distancing with a designated capacity
limit.

College Offices

A: Precautions may include plexiglass shields, face
shields, masks for
employees, wiping down of all surfaces, etc.

Vaccination Dates

The BSC Health Center will administer Moderna vaccines and booster shots for BSC students and
employees. We
will be partnering with Bluestone later in the Spring (March) for community vaccination clinics.
If you
aren’t faculty, staff, or a student, then please visit our COVID-19 resources tab to find a
testing location
near you. Our BSC Health Center is open
from
9AM – 3PM, Monday – Friday.

Directions

Message From the President

May 22, 2020

May 6, 2020

April 28, 2020

April 21, 2020

April 7, 2020

April 1, 2020

March 24, 2020

March 18, 2020

Letter From the President

March 16, 2020

Dear Bluefield State Community:

We are working daily to adjust to the shifting news about the
coronavirus (COVID-19).
My message today is for our students, faculty and staff. Your well-being and education will
always be our
primary focus.

The situation is rapidly evolving. Bluefield State College has no confirmed cases of the
coronavirus
at this time on campus.
That said, we cannot eliminate all risk, but we are
taking aggressive
steps to minimize it. Because this situation is changing every day, more precautions make sense.
We are
undertaking the following changes to continue our educational mission.

Effective Monday, March 16, 2020 until Sunday, March 29, 2020:

  • Classes at Bluefield State’s main and Beckley campuses will not meet in-person.
    Course content
    and instruction will move to online, effective March 22nd.
  • Students will participate in these classes, complete assigmnents, and engage with their
    professors at
    prescribed meeting times. This teaching platform will ensure that students are able to
    complete their
    courses and meet their academic requirements. Additional information on how students
    will use this
    technology will be coming from the Office of the Provost.
  • Bluefield State leadership will be working on an individual basis with students who
    reside in
    off campus housing to assure their ability to comply with their classwork
    assignments.
  • The State of West Virginia has suspended college sponsored travel as well as nonessential
    travel for
    staff and faculty. Athletic games are suspended during this time. We want to mitigate
    the congregation
    of large groups of people.

The changes, do not affect Bluefield State’s day-to-day routine staff business. We will maintain
academic and
other support services. Our Threat Assessment Team will have further information for you.

Cleanliness is a top priority. Our cleaning crews have taken extra measures to keep
public
and common areas on campus, as well as in resident housing and the dining hall clean with daily
disinfections. This includes walls, windows, lavatories, railings, doors, floors and more. We
will continue
to disinfect the places students touch most. Additional hand sanitizing stations have been set
up in high
traffic areas.

Our Threat Assessment Team is in place to ensure your well-being. This team is
working
closely with local government agencies and the local hospitals as well as in coordination across
the campus.

Students with academic concerns should connect with their professors or advisors. For those who are
experiencing anxiety or excessive stress, please reach out to the Counseling Center at
304-327-4016.
Bluefield State will always keep the latest information here at the top of our website.

A hallmark of Bluefield State is our caring community, our day-to-day interactions, our small classes
and
strong relationships between professors and students. We understand that these measures are
disruptive but
we believe they will help minimize the risk. We are committed to returning to a normal state of
operation.

I want to thank our faculty and staff as they work hard to implement these initiatives; they are
dedicated to
the best interests and success of our students. The Bluefield State community is at its best
when we work
together. We are in challenging times. It’s our commitment to each other that will help us all
see this
through.